Sensitivity Program
Aims To Help Borman
Monitor Coaches
Home's Clean-Up
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
B
orman Hall has hired
Elmer Benson, a
retired nursing home
administrator, to help
the 212-bed facility gain com-
pliance with federal and
state regulations.
After its third failed state
inspection in 12 months,
Borman Hall received a rec-
ommendation from the
Michigan Department of
Public Health (MDPH) to
hire Mr. Benson in the role of
part-time monitor. Monitors
advise the staff of ailing
nursing homes. They also act
as liaisons between nursing
home staffs and the MDPH.
"The purpose of a monitor
is to make certain that the
plan of correction that was
drafted and submitted to the
Michigan Department of
Public Health is followed,"
said Denise Bortolani-
Rabidoux, executive director
of the Jewish Home for Aged.
"Using the monitor has
allowed (staff and adminis-
trators) to spend more time
educating workers through
in-service training semi-
nars."
Borman Hall is paying Mr.
Benson about $50 an hour.
Though he visits the Home
twice a week and observes
how the facility is being run,
Mr. Benson says he is not a
policeman out to discover
workers who are inadequate-
ly performing their jobs.
"I work as an observer and
adviser, as a consultant," he
said. "The MDPH is not
expecting me to turn the
facility around. That's clearly
not my role. They are asking
me to be of assistance to the
key staff and to the board in
turning the facility around.
"If I see anything that I
think needs improvement, I
share my observations imme-
diately," he said.
"I work as an
observer and
adviser, as a
consultant."
Elmer Benson
He would not discuss
details about the Home.
Mr. Benson has 22 years of
experience as an executive in
the retirement home and
nursing home industry. He
worked as the chief executive
officer of United Methodist
Retirement Communities in
Chelsea for more than a
decade.
Three years ago, the
MDPH recommended Mr.
Benson to a nursing home in
Bagging It For
The Holidays
JENNIFER FINER JEWISH NEWS INTERN
M
embers of local syn-
agogues will be
asked to help Yad
Ezra meet the
increasing demands of its
clients.
For the third consecutive
year, the only kosher food
bank in the state is asking
synagogues to put grocery
bags with the Yad Ezra logo
on sanctuary seats, to be
filled between Ro;11
Hashanah and Yom Kippur
by congregants. The food is
usually collected right before
Kol Nidre.
Last year, 13,000 bags
weighing in at over 2 tons of
canned goods and nonperish-
able food items were collect-
ed throughout the area.
This year, Yad Ezra has a
goal of 15,000 bags.
Nancy Welber Barr, who
has been coordinating the
food drive with the help of
her husband Richard Barr,
stressed the importance of
topping last year's totals to
meet the increasing needs of
Yad Ezra's clients.
"Last year at this time we
were serving about 1,250
people per month, dispensing
about 25,000 pounds of food.
We are now serving 1,441
individuals and distributing
up to 28,900 pounds of food a
month," she said.
Collecting the food will not
be the hard part for Yad
Lansing. The facility, already
decertified for Medicare and
Medicaid funding, was worse
off than Borman Hall. Mr.
Benson worked with admin-
istrators there for 12 months,
after which the home
regained certification.
Mr. Benson believes that
Borman Hall also can pull
through.
"What I observed when I
arrived at the Home in early
August was a relatively new
executive director and her
new staff working very hard
to make significant improve-
ments to care," he said.
"They simply did not have all
the time they needed. I see a
signficant amount of
improvement in both nursing
care and in staff morale."
The MDPH is expected to
revisit the Home in about 50
days.
Citizens For Better Care, a
nonprofit organization in
Detroit that keeps records
and provides information on
retirement and nursing
homes in Michigan, supports
the use of a monitor.
"Monitors provide an
intensive oversight of 'Are
you doing what you said you
were going to do?', " said
Hollis Turnham, state long-
term care ombudsman for
the organization. O
Ezra and Ms. Barr. They
may have a more difficult
time finding the 50 or 60 vol-
unteers needed to help col-
lect and shelve the bags once
they are filled.
The day after Yom Kippur,
donated trucks will be used
to pick up all the food that
is collected and taken to
Yad Ezra to be sorted and
shelved. Non-kosher food
items will be traded
for kosher items with the
Food Bank of Oakland
County.
"The need for food is criti-
cal," Ms. Barr said. "We now
have people who were
Yad Ezra contributors that
have become Yad Ezra
clients."
This year, Yad Ezra has
added JARC and Kadima,
residential care programs
for those with developmental
and psychiatric disabilities
respectively, to its growing
list of participants. El
Borman staff assume different roles.
C
rystal
Clements, a
nurse at Borman Hall,
smeared her eyeglasses
with Vaseline last
week. She wanted to experi-
ence the partial blindness
that many nursing home res-
idents endure daily.
James Downing, a mid-
night nurse, allowed his
supervisors to strap braces
on his legs. For an hour, Mr.
Downing coped with arthri-
tis, like many of the elderly
people he serves.
As part of their attempt to
comply with federal regula-
tions after failing a third
state inspection, Borman
Hall administrators have ini-
tiated a number of new train-
ing seminars, aimed at mak-
ing staff more aware of the
needs of residents.
Ms. Clements and Mr.
Downing, along with other
staff at the 212-bed Home,
have participated in one-
hour "sensitivity training"
seminars, geared to nursing
supervisors, social workers
and certified nursing assis-
tants.
In July, the Michigan
Department of Public Health
cited Borman Hall with four
serious code violations.
Included on the MDPH's
final report were statements
such as:
"Based upon record review
and observation, it was
determined that the facility
did not provide appropriate
skin care to prevent pressure
sores ...Resident (#999) was
not changed promptly when
she was wet... ."
Denise Weinert, head
social worker at Borman
Hall, hopes the sensitivity
training seminars will boost
the likelihood that these vio-
lations will not appear on the
next state report.
"Being elderly is
foreign
to us."
•
Denise Weinert
•
"The (sensitivity pro-
grams) make staff realize the
deficits elderly people have,"
Ms. Weinert said. "The pro-
grams are (meant) to produce
empathy within our staff.
Being elderly is foreign to
us."
During the seminars,„
supervisors role-played the
part of nurses who mis-
treated their "residents."
"They left them on the
potty for 20 minutes and
they told them they stink," w
Ms. Weinert said.
Ms. Clements said she 2
does not handle residents F-
poorly, but occasional mis- a-
UJ
treatment occurs. The semi-
nars are helpful in heighten-
ing people's awareness, she
said. 0
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